NEW DELHI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday hit back at Pakistan’s latest water-related scare narrative, calling it a “baseless attempt” to incite fear over a hypothetical situation involving the Brahmaputra River.Responding to a viral claim, “What if China stops the Brahmaputra’s water to India?”, Sarma issued a fact-driven rebuttal in a strongly worded post on X. His response came as India had suspended the Indus Waters Treaty in a diplomatic move following the Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Pahalgam.“After India decisively moved away from the outdated Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan is now spinning another manufactured threat,” Sarma wrote on X.“Let’s dismantle this myth, not with fear, but with facts and national clarity,” he added, emphasising that the Brahmaputra is an Indian river that gains strength downstream, not one diminished by upstream influence.Sarma highlighted that China contributes only around 30 to 35 per cent of the Brahmaputra’s flow, primarily from glacial melt and limited rainfall over the Tibetan plateau. In contrast, 65 to 70 per cent of the river’s volume is generated within India, thanks to monsoon rains and tributaries in the Northeast.Using hydrological data, the chief minister noted that while the river’s flow at the Indo-China border (Tuting) ranges between 2,000 and 3,000 cubic metres per second, it swells dramatically to 15,000–20,000 m³/s in Assam during monsoon season. This, he said, proves India’s dominant role in sustaining the river.“The Brahmaputra is not a river India depends on upstream. It is a rain-fed Indian river system, strengthened after entering Indian territory,” Sarma said.He further argued that in the unlikely event China did attempt to reduce the river’s flow, it could even benefit India by reducing the annual floods in Assam that displace hundreds of thousands.Sarma also pointed out that China has never officially threatened to weaponise the Brahmaputra and dismissed such speculation as fear-mongering.Taking a direct swipe at Pakistan, he said that the country, which has long relied on the Indus Waters Treaty, is now “panicking” as India asserts its water sovereignty.“Brahmaputra is not controlled by a single source. It is powered by our geography, our monsoon, and our civilisational resilience,” he said.The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river that originates from the Mansarovar region near Mount Kailash in southwestern China. It flows through Tibet, enters India in Arunachal Pradesh, and continues through Assam before making its way into Bangladesh, where it eventually empties into the Bay of Bengal.
